[COVID-19] Jammu And Kashmir Issues Additional Guidelines For Digital Filing Of Urgent Cases [Read Circular]

Additional directions have been issued by the Chief Justice Gita Mittal of High Court of Jammu and Kashmir at Jammu with regard to the digital filing of petitions during the lockdown period. In reference to the fresh filing of a main case in Digital form:

1. The complete petition in a scanned PDF format filed through the advocate/person has to be sent from the email address of the advocate/party in person to the Registrar Judicial of the concerned wing of the High Court. Email IDs of the concerned Registrar Judicial of both the wings have been notified vide the previous circular dated 23.03.2020.

2. Soft copies of the petition shall be sent to the office of the Advocate General/ASGI/Government Pleaders, as the case may be, on the email address notified by the concerned department.

3. A brief note explaining the extreme urgency for the listing of the petition needs to accompany the petition. If the urgency is considered favourably, then the listing date and time will be intimidated to the petitioner/advocate.

4. In case the appropriate Court fee is not available for affixation on the pleadings/documents, an application for extension of time for making good the deficiency in the Court fee shall accompany the filing. The Court shall be affixed in accordance with the time granted by the order of the Court on this application.

5. Attestation of affidavit by the Petitioner is optional, but the attested affidavit shall have to be furnished once the normal working of the High Court is restored.

6. All pages of the petition shall be signed by the petitioner/authorized agent and also by the lawyer before being scanned. Annexures to the petition shall also be scanned in PDF format and sent along with the petition.

7. Upon restoration of normal functioning of the High Court, hard copies of the complete petition as required under the rules has to be supplied within one week of resumption of ordinary filing.

8. The affidavit, which has to be subsequently sworn, shall contain recital to the effect that the accompanying petition was digitally filed during the lockdown period and its contents are being verified now.

9. The hard copy complete in all respects of all matters filed through the digital mode during lockdown period and disposed of during this period has also to be filed as at 7 above by the party concerned.

10. Any counter affidavit, reply, civil application, miscellaneous civil application, if any, to be filed subsequent to filing of the main matter during this period, shall also be filed as per the method given for digital filing of the petition.

11. The hard copy shall be accompanied by an affidavit, certifying that that hard copy is the original of the petition/application which was sent by an email for urgent hearing. The affidavit shall also certify that all documents are true copies of the originals scanned copies of which have been sent in soft format in the email.

12. The responsibility for producing the hard copies of the pleadings and documents, if any, and proving their genuineness shall be of the party that has electronically filed the scanned copies thereof.

Application in pending matters:

1. In case application is filed in pending matters, and if the main matter is already scanned and available in DMS of the High Court, the soft copy of the main matter shall be forwarded by the concerned Registrar Judicial through email to the Hon'ble Judge hearing the matter.

2. In case it is not possible to retrieve record of the main matter from the High Court server, then if permitted by the High Court, the party/advocate shall send soft copy of the entire record, including the interim/final orders passed in the case along with petition, if any available with the party with a certificate that the record is true and correct and then the court shall decide whether to proceed further in the matter or not. In case any interim order has been passed/vacated/modified in the case, specific mention of the same shall be made conspicuously in the petition.

Registration of cases during lockdown:

1. All the petitions (main and miscellaneous) filed during the lockdown period shall be numbered by the concerned Registrar Judicial by assigning a running temporary registration number for each category of the case and for maintaining the record of registration, proper register shall be maintained by the Registrar Judicial concerned.

2. "EMG" shall be mandatorily prefixed with the registration number of the cases filed during the lockdown period.

3. As and when normal working of the High Court shall resume, the cases shall be registered in CIS as is being done in routine manner and the proceedings conducted and orders passed in the matters shall also be updated in CIS of the High Court accordingly. 

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